The present invention relates to a database methodology, and more particularly, to a database methodology for a system to divide any arbitrary object into a plurality of regions and to facilitate the assignment of certain attributes to such regions.
Traditionally, patients suffering from pain (e.g., chronic pain) have been limited to verbal characterizations and/or simple hand-rendered drawings to identify such critical information as the location, the nature, and the severity of their pain. Of course, such characterizations can vary in as many ways as there are people to convey such information. Thus, consistent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of like conditions have been historically problematic.
Unfortunately, the introduction of computers and other digital devices to this area has not lessened the burden on the patient. Moreover, the qualitative value of information from these devices has not substantively improved. Specifically, such computers and other digital devices function similarly to traditional pen and paper. The user, whether patient or physician, is presented an outline, for example, of the human body, and is then asked to draw, circle, or otherwise indicate the pain-afflicted bodily regions. To this end, reference is made to FIG. 1, which represents but one example of such a user-interface for these conventional systems.
It is acknowledged that known xe2x80x9celectronicxe2x80x9d systems offer some improved functionality. In particular, data entry from one patient to another is inherently harmonized, as the patients are constrained by a limited number of options in characterizing his/her pain. Moreover, data storage is improved, as the visual images can be readily transmitted as well as stored on long-term and/or transportable storage media.
However, in the context of these known systems, supplied data is typically accepted at a pixel-level basis. Because the resolution of the representations (FIG. 1) must typically be great, the size of each data input is significant. Accordingly, for any measurable number of patients, a considerable amount of storage space is required, thus adversely affecting a practitioner""s ability to establish a statistically relevant database. Further yet, searches or comparisons of such data can be hindered by the significant quantity of data that can exist (and must be managed) for a given representation.
For purposes of spinal cord stimulation (SCS), or the controlled application of specific electrical energy to certain spinal nervous tissue to manage the transmission of specialized pain signals through such tissue, it is recognized that some conventional systems correlate pixel-level xe2x80x9cpainxe2x80x9d data to predetermined xe2x80x9cdermatomexe2x80x9d regions for purposes of presentation. For purposes of explanation, pain representations 102 drawn on a graphical image of a human figure (e.g., FIG. 1) are converted to correspond to specific dermatomes 102xe2x80x2 of FIG. 2.
Dermatomes are recognized exterior regions of the human body that are. respectively associated with certain spinal nerve roots at particular longitudinal spinal positions. Particularly, the head and neck regions are associated with C2-C8; the back regions extends from C2-S3; the central diaphragm is associated with spinal nerve roots between C3 and CS; the upper extremities are correspond to C5 and T1; the thoracic wall extends from T1 to T11; the peripheral diaphragm is between T6 and T11; the abdominal wall is associated with T6-L1; lower extremities are located from L2 to S2; and the perineum from L4 to S4. By example, to address chronic pain sensations that commonly focus on the lower back and lower extremities, a specific energy field can usually be applied to a region between bony level T8 and T10. Correlating xe2x80x9cfree-formxe2x80x9d pain representations 102 to specific dermatomes 102xe2x80x2 is intended to assist a practitioner in identifying a longitudinal, vertebral position (i.e., afflicted nervous tissue) that would likely benefit from an application of therapeutic treatment. As can be seen, however, such correlation is not always accurate. As is common practice, the dermatome-related data is neither stored nor otherwise manipulated in this form but rather is generated when needed.
Another negative characteristic of conventional systems is the limited amount (and quality) of pain-related information recorded and considered. In particular, indicating pain relative to a human representation (e.g., FIG. 1) simply provides relative location information. Any pain characteristics are limited to an intensity value, which is entered through a textual-based, numeric input mechanism 100.
Consequently, a need exists for a database system that enables an object, whether predisposed to regional division or not, to be mapped into a plurality of regions, each region being capable of capturing region-specific and/or object-specific data. With such system, users can consistently and reliably enter information attributable to any given region. Using regionally-consistent, similar objects, this system would enable data for any given object to be compared, universally modified, and/or otherwise manipulated among a plurality of sources.
A further need exists for a database system to graphically present, in a concurrent form, potentially multifarious attributes of any one region.
An object of the present invention is to provide a database structure that operatively overcomes the shortcomings noted above with respect to known systems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a database methodology that effects a division of a body or structure into a prescribed number of regions, such regions being indexed relative to one another.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a database methodology that is adapted to associate region-unique attributes as well as region-common attributes with regional data records.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is directed to a graphical database. The database includes an object storage portion, a mapping portion, a selection portion, and an attribute assignment portion. In turn, the storage portion operatively stores a predetermined object representation. The mapping portion extracts the object representation from the object storage portion and, graphically, sub-divides the object representation into a plurality of regions, each region representing a data-input field. The selection portion is adapted to allow selection of at least one region of a sub-divided object image, and the attribute assignment portion assigns conditions to selected regions, whereas the conditions include region-specific information. Each region is adapted to receive a plurality of conditions.
Another aspect of the present invention is a method for assigning positional-specific attributes to an object as well as managing such attributes in a graphical database. The steps of such method include providing a graphical object representation, and dividing the object representation into a plurality of sub-regions. Each region is a graphical, data-input field. The method further concerns selecting at least one region for attribute assignment, and selecting an attribute. For a region subject to an attribute, the process further requires modifying such regions graphically in a manner to convey that the selected attribute is associated with the selected regions. At least one region is adapted to convey visually an association with multiple attributes.